Method of providing regenerator filler material in an annular space



. a 2 w v a WWW 2 4 w M 0 0 a K/ 5 7 a y .H E 6 IL Filed Feb. 17, 1949Sept. 21, 1954 E. MEINDERSMA mom OF PROVIDING REGENERATOR FILLERMATERIAL IN AN ANNULAR SPACE Patented Sept. 21, 1954 METHOD OF PROVIDINGREGENERATOR FILLER MATERIAL IN AN ANNULAR SPACE Elize Meindersma,Eindhoven, Netherlands, as-

signor to Hartford National Bank and Trust Company, Hartford, Conn., astrustee Application February 17, 1949, Serial No. 76,986

Claims priority, application Netherlands April 26, 1948 As a rule,hot-gas piston engines comprise a regenerator chamber containing aregenerator filler. This regenerator filler has for its purpose toabsorb heat from the working medium of the 1 Claim. (Cl. 29--157.s)

2. understood and readily carried into effect it will now be describedmore fully with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which severalembodiments thereof are shown by way of engine, which medium circulatesfrom the hot 5- example. side to the cold side of the engine,and to giveoff Fig. 1 represents a regenerator filler with assothis heat to themedium traversing the filler in ciated protecting rings in a hot-gaspiston engine. the opposite direction. g This hot-gas piston engine maybe a hot-gas It is desirable that the filler which is distributed engine(hot-air engine or a refrigerating maas evenly as possible, should fillthe regenerator chine, in which the direction of the cycle is opchambercompletely. It is known to make the posite to that of the hot-gasengine. Fig. 1 filler itself coherent and to 'make it from wirefurthermore shows the difference in size of the material. In such afiller these wires engage each regenerator filler before and after itsintroother more or less resiliently. To fill the reduction. generatorchamber as much as possible through- Figs. 2 and 3, represent differentforms of the out its volume, use will generally be made of a protectingrings. filler of which the size slightly exceeds that of Figs. 2a and 3aare side elevational views of the chamber in which the filler isintroduced. Figs. 2 and 3 respectively. This may cause damage to thefiller on introduc- In the construction shown in Fig. 1 a heater ing itin the regenerator chamber and on assemhead I is mounted, by means of aflange 2, on bling and dismantling, since parts of the filler the base 3of a hot-gas piston engine. The lower may break or scale ofi. Thesemetal parts may side A of flange 2 is rounded to facilitate the gainaccess to the work chamber of the engine mounting of the heater headover the regenerator which has its concomitant disadvantages. filler 5which has a certain coherence in itself The present invention has forits object to proand may, for instance, consist of wire material. videmeans for avoiding the aforesaid dis- The filler is provided at theouter upper side with advantages. a ring 6 and at the lower inner sidewith a ring 1 The hot-gas piston engine according to the asappears fromth draw n T aid r present invention exhibits the feature that an owingto the r Su ta y Chosen Shape a the annular part is provided at one ormore transitransition from one of the sides of the filler l0 tions fromeither of the sides of an annular to an end surface, enclose the saidside and said regenerator filler (the said sides comprising end. Thefiller 5 is provided between the heater either the inner or outerstanding periphery of head I and the cylindrical wall 8. The inner thesaid annular filler) to either of the two end diameter of the ring 1 isapproximately 0.1 mm. surfaces of the annular filler. The said annularlarger than the outer diameter of the wall 8, by part is arranged toenclose both one of the sides which the mounting of the filler 5 andrings 6 and one of the ends in the area of the transition. I and l isfacilitated. The cylinder wall 8 is V In this way the regenerator filleris protected furnished with a projecting part 9 on which the in a simplemanner and damage upon its introring 1 t Before mo t g, the rcgcneratcrduction is avoided. In addition, the latter operafiller 5 is shaped asshown at H) above the heater tion is facilitated. In one embodiment ofthe he d I. On comparison of the shape H! of the invention, junctionsare provided between t filler with its shape 5 the diiierence in sizebefore juxtaposed annular parts, viewed along the outand after mountingclearly pp s line of the regenerator filler. Thus, the, position Theregenerator filler I0 is mounted as follows. 01' the annular parts withrespect to one another Initially, the ring 1 allows e filler Hi to be isdetermined to a. certain degree and so the inserted over the cylinder 8without any damage coherence of the filler is promoted. In an to thefiller. Thereafter, the heater head I which alternative embodiment ofthe invention one or has a greater diameter h the Cylinder is placedmore of the annular parts consist of metal sheet over the cylinder wall8 in spaced relation exhibiting tags at one or both edges. Thisperthereto whereupon the heater head I engages the mits a simplemanufacture of the annular parts. ring 6 first upon insertion. Theheater head I The annular parts may be punched from sheet is droppeddown about the cylinder wall 8 until material, the tags beingsubsequently bent into it abuts against the rim 9 of the cylinder wall8. the desired shape. The rounding 4 of flange 2 and the ring 6 permitIn order that the invention may be clearly the heater head I to beplaced also over the filler 3 l without any damage to the filler. Asappears from the foregoing only those angles of the regenerator fillerare furnished with rings 6 and 1 which are liable to damage in mounting.

Fig. 2 shows in plan view and in side view a protecting ring H furnishedwith tags l2 and [3 at both edges.

In Fig. 3 two rings I6 and I! are interconnected by junctions 18. Therings I6 and I! are provided with tags l9 and 20 respectively. The tagsl9 and 20 shown in the upper part Of Fig. 4 have not yet been bent inthe desired direction. The lower part of this figure shows the rings [5and I! after bending the tags 19 and 20.

What I claim is:

A method of inserting a mass of filamentary regenerator material into anannular regenerator space of a hot gas engine between the outer wall ofa cylinder and a heater head which is to be mounted over saidregenerator material comprising the steps of forming the filamentarymaterial into an annular porous mass having a size slightly larger thanthat of the regenerator space, placing over the inside trailing edge ofsaid mass an annular support, inserting said mass with said supportabout the outer wall of said cylinder and into said regenerator space,said annular support engaging the wall of said cylinder first upon saidinsertion, said annular support having asupporting portion extendingover one end surface of the 4 mass and a supporting portion extendingover an adjacent side surface thereof, placing over the diametricallyopposite, outside leading edge of saidmass a second annular supportsimilar to said first support, and placing said heater head about theouter wall of said cylinder and said mass whereby said heater headengages said second annular support first upon said placement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 206,597 McKinley July 30, 1878 289,481 Wilcox Dec. 4, 1883289,482 Wilcox Dec. 4, 1883 1,460,677 Lundgaard July 3, 1923 1,730,580Lundgaard Oct. 8, 1929 1,858,508 Kignell et a1. May 17, 1932 2,371,346Morrow Mar. 13, 1945 2,484,392 Van- He'eckeren Oct. 11, 1949 2,543,481Wichs Feb. 27, 1951 2,550,070 La Brecque Apr. 24, 1951 2,555,125 GregoryMay 29, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 56,737 Netherlands July8, 1944 920,275 France a Jan. 2, 1947

